


Arctic Flower

by Rachel_Sophie95



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arranged Marriage, Badass Katara (Avatar), Character Death, Diplomacy, Escape, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Inspired by Troy (2004), Katara (Avatar)-centric, Loss of Virginity, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Oral Sex, Politics, Resolved Sexual Tension, Sexual Tension, Suspense, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, capture fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27704821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachel_Sophie95/pseuds/Rachel_Sophie95
Summary: Katara is captured during a Fire Nation raid. When her identity as a chief's daughter marks her out as a valuable hostage, she is taken under the protection of Prince Zuko, her safety and wellbeing dependent on her people's cooperation. Passions rage between her and her supposed protector and they are caught up in a plot to unite their warring countries.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 51





	1. Arctic Flower, More Like an Arctic Wolf

Katara didn't regret giving water to the old woman and her grandson.  
She and the rest of the hostages from her village had been cooped up in the brig of a Fire Nation ship for days without adequate food and water. The hunger didn't bother them all that much, people from the Southern Water Tribe were used to going hungry, but the thirst was torture.  
As the days passed, the thirst became more than Katara could bear. Like the other prisoners, she'd resorted to licking the condensation off the walls of the damp brig but that was never enough. Her voice came out as a weak croak and she scarcely had the strength to sit up. If she didn't get a proper drink of water, she would crumble to dust and blow away.  
Katara could use her water bending to bring the moisture out of the air and use it to quench her thirst. But Sokka had always told her to be careful about using her bending because it might very well get her into a lot of trouble.  
Sorry, Sokka. I have no other choice.  
Katara pulled a large bubble of water out of the air and brought it close to her mouth. She was about to slurp it down when she heard a small child crying.  
A boy of about two or three sat next to Katara, huddled against an old woman with a wrinkled, brown face like seal jerky, who reminded Katara of her Gran Gran. The little boy let out pathetic little sobs and the old woman, presumably, his grandmother, stroked his hair in a vain attempt at comfort him.  
"Are you thirsty?" Katara asked him. Her dry, swollen throat throbbed.  
He stopped crying and blinked at her.  
"Here." Katara sent the water bubble over to the little boy and his grandmother. The two of them sucked up the bubble in eager gulps. Once they finished it, they gave Katara grateful smiles.  
Katara smiled in response. She started to pull another water bubble out of the air but had to stop when the brig's door slammed open.  
Three Fire Nation soldiers paced across the brig to see if anything was amiss among the prisoners.  
The unfortunate water tribe villagers had been holed up in the brig for what seemed like a lifetime. If Katara were able to see her reflection, she expected to be as old as Gran Gran.  
Gran-Gran...  
Katara was in this mess because she had tried to protect her grandmother.

Their village was small, isolated, and vulnerable, even by Water Tribe standards. The closest thing this community of helpless women, children, and old people had to a warrior was Katara's older brother, Sokka, little more than a child himself. All the men who were old enough to fight went off to the war two years ago.  
They were no match for the Fire Nation's raids.  
This particular raid was the worst they'd seen in years. Half the village had been leveled and the Fire Nation soldiers dragged people out of the rubble and back to their angry-looking metal warship.  
Sokka tried to fight off the raiding party's leader with his boomerang but was blasted into the snow for his troubles. Katara's brother was brave but no match for such a demon.  
After getting Sokka out of the way, the raiding party's leader grabbed Gran Gran.  
"The Avatar," he said. "He'd be about this age, master of all elements."  
The rest of the villagers responded with confused silence. The leader shoved Gran Gran towards another soldier who tried to take her away.  
Katara blocked their path. "This how you Fire Nation brutes treat a defenseless old woman?" She shouted.  
"What's the old hag to you?" The soldier replied.  
"My grandmother, you monster!"  
"Since her grandmother is so important," the leader laughed. He gave Katara a look like a seal-shark eyeing a newborn penguin. "Take the girl instead. We already have enough old hags. We could use something prettier to look at."  
The soldier threw Gran Gran to the ground then grabbed Katara by the wrists.  
Gran-Gran cried. "You don't have to do this, Katara."  
"I'll be alright Gran-Gran, just go to Sokka."  
The last thing Katara saw before she was dragged on the ship was the tears running down her grandmother's leathery old face.

"That's the one." The Fire Nation soldiers looked at Katara as if she were something to eat. Katara had grown used to the predatory way her jailers regarded her.  
She stood out among the rest of the prisoners, being neither a small child nor a wizened elder. Sokka and Gran-Gran often said she wasn't a little girl anymore and should be wary of strange men.  
"Take her up on deck," one of the soldiers ordered. The other two grabbed Katara and tried to tie her wrists together.  
Katara struggled against them. "Where are you taking me?"  
Had they seen her water bend? Were they going to punish her for it?  
Her pulse accelerated and sent blood rushing to her head. Memories of her mother's murder during a previous Fire Nation raid flooded back to her.  
They brought her, kicking and screaming, to a large cabin on an upper deck. The cabin was lit with candles. A large Fire Nation banner hung on the wall.  
Two men stood around a table looking at maps. One of them threw a cup of tea to the ground when they entered the room.  
"What is it?" He shouted. "You better have news of the Avatar!"  
"No, we do not, Prince Zuko," the soldier who held Katara by the wrists replied. "But we thought this delicate arctic flower might be a pleasant distraction for you."  
Prince Zuko approached Katara and eyed her with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity as if a wild animal had just barged into the room. He had a large red scar shaped like a palm across one of his eyes like a flaming hand had slapped him. Katara didn't like the look of him.  
A great bull of a man with thick, black sideburns grabbed Katara's chin. "Let's get a closer look at this delicate arctic flower." Katara bit his hand and he let out a loud scream. "More like an arctic wolf!"  
"Not good with wolves, are you, Commander Zhou?" Prince Zuko said.  
"She's all yours." Commander Zhou tossed Katara over to the prince. "Let's see what kind of a wolf tamer you are."  
Katara rose to her feet. " I'd like to see a spoiled prince like you try to tame me," she said.  
"Are you going to let her talk to you like that?" Commander Zhou raised an eyebrow and smirked.  
Prince Zuko grabbed Katara by the arm. His touch burned her.  
"Let go of me," she whimpered.  
"You will show the proper respect to a prince of the Fire Nation."  
She continued to struggle against the restraints on her wrists and the prince's searing grasp. The smell of roasted flesh filled her nostrils as the room spun around her.  
"I'm showing you all the respect you deserve." If they were going to kill her, she might as well give them a good reason.  
"You there," Commander Zhou called to one of the soldiers when Katara swooned to the floor because of all the pain. "Have her burns treated and bring her to Prince Zuko's cabin."

The stupid soldiers made a huge mistake in leaving Katara alone. She passed the hours she awaited Prince Zuko's arrival by planning her escape.  
Step One: grab the lamp from the bedside table and use it to smash the porthole.  
Step Two: Cut the rope around her wrists with one of the shards of glass.  
Step Three: tie the sheets from the bed together to make a ladder.  
Step Four: Open the porthole and climb out.  
Step Five: Walk across the ice flows to shore.  
By the time the prince returned, she would be far away from here.


	2. The Phoenix Pendant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following the events of "Arctic Flower," Katara's plans to escape are interrupted and she finds out she is no longer a prisoner but rather a "guest" of her captor, Prince Zuko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the good reception I received for "Arctic Flower," and comment from xLochanx, I decided to write a follow-up.

No sooner did Katara develop her plan to escape, Prince Zuko opened the door and strode in. Katara sat up, still and straight, against the headboard. Her chest rose and fell as he noticed her sitting on the bed.  
Prince Zuko's expression was flinty and unreadable. He walked over to a table with a pitcher and basin for washing and removed his armor. Katara's pounding heart sent blood straight to her temples. The room around her grew blurry and unstable. Was Prince Zuko going to punish her for what she did earlier? Would this be how she died? Trapped like a mouse-bird without even the strength to bend enough water to splash Prince Zuko in the face.  
He untucked his shirt and pulled it over his head. "What's your name?" he said. Katara blushed to see him shirtless and turned away. How dare he take off his shirt in front of her as if she were a servant.  
"Did you not hear me?" Prince Zuko washed his neck with a wet cloth. He stood close enough for Katara to be able to smell the sandalwood soap. He reached over and grabbed her chin. "Or are you too afraid to speak?"  
He didn't look much older than Katara himself, probably about Sokka's age. The two-thirds of his face that weren't scared were smooth and boyish.  
Katara jerked away from him. "I'm being held captive by the people who attacked my village and killed my mother... no shit, I'm scared."  
"So you've found your voice again?" Prince Zuko grabbed a towel from the wash table and dried off. "I don't recall any Water Tribe women being killed during this raid. If any were, it must not have come to my attention. We're in the middle of a war. People die all the time.”  
"She was killed during a different raid." Katara glared at him. "One that happened when I was a child."  
Prince Zuko laughed. "Then it mustn't have been that long ago, Little Girl. You look to be about my younger sister's age, though I doubt anyone's ever thought of Azula as a little girl."  
Princess Azula of the Fire Nation's reputation had reached even as far as the South Pole. At the tender age of fourteen, she was known for being as cunning and ruthless as she was beautiful.  
"My brother will come and rescue me." Katara turned towards the porthole, hoping to see Water Tribe boats storming the ship.  
Prince Zuko pulled a clean shirt off of a changing screen and put it on. "That bumbling oaf with the boomerang? He's welcome to try."  
"I doubt a monster like you would lift a finger to save his sister."  
"Agni help anyone dumb to try to capture Azula." He sat down on the bed. The mattress shifted under his weight. How close he was made Katara blush. At least he had a shirt on now.  
The tip of her braid found itself caught between the prince's fingers. He brought it to his nose. "Jasmine oil, so you're not a total peasant."  
The jasmine oil that Katara liked to work through her hair when she combed it, a gift her father sent her from the Earth Kingdom, was one of the few luxuries she owned.  
"That old woman you were defending, she's your grandmother?" Again, he grabbed her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. Katara blinked as if she were staring into a flame. "My men told me she's the village matriarch, Chief Hakota's mother. So that makes you his daughter?"  
"What's it to you?"  
"I just discussing what to do with you. My uncle pointed out who you were and said that a chief's daughter would make a valuable hostage, so precious that we wouldn't need to keep the other prisoners. He suggested that you stay here as our guest to ensure that your tribe cooperates and let the rest go as a sign of goodwill."  
As much as Katara hated being stuck on this ship, she would stay if it bought her village some time.  
"If I play the grateful guest, how do I know you'll keep your word and release them?"  
"You don't have many other options, do you?" Prince Zuko put a hand on her shoulder. "It's not a bad deal. You'll get decent food and accommodations, and all those Water Tribe peasants get to go home safely. Uncle is nothing if not magnanimous."  
"Why would your uncle stick up for Water Tribe peasants?"  
Katara's father had told her stories about the Fire Lord's brother, General Iroh, the Great Dragon of the West. General Iroh gave up his warlike ways after his defeat at Ba Sing Se and the death of his beloved son, Prince Lu Ten.  
Prince Zuko shrugged. "He always has a few pai sho tiles up his sleeve. The other generals never catch on that he's two steps ahead of them because they've written him off as an old man who's past his prime and has gone crazy."  
"Crazy like a fox sounds more like it."  
"What's your name?" He grabbed the cord tied around her wrists and untied it. "Even Water Tribe peasants have names."  
"Katara." She rubbed the raw welts on her wrists left by the cord. How good it felt to have her hands free again.  
Prince Zuko rose from the bed and went to answer a knock at the door.  
"My prince," the guard standing in the doorway said. "Commander Zhao wants to see you in the war room."  
"Tell him I'll be there in a few minutes," Prince Zuko grumbled. The guard bowed and closed the door.  
Prince Zuko walked over to the dressing table and pulled a trinket out of a drawer. "Katara, I should be back in a couple of hours to discuss the terms of your stay here. In the meantime, I'll have some food, fresh clothes, and water for washing sent up to you." He tossed the item he'd pulled out of the drawer to her. "Put this on."  
Katara caught a brown jade pendant carved to resemble a phoenix.  
"What is this?" she said, sliding the black silk cord over her head and down her neck until the pendant rested on her breastbone.  
"Something that'll keep you safe. The crew will understand what it means. They'll talk about you behind your back but you won't be harmed."  
Her fingers caressed the jade phoenix. How would it protect her?  
The prince's eyes smoldered at her as he stood in the doorway. "You don't have to be afraid, peasant. At least, for now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think Iroh is up to? What do you think the phoenix pendant means?


	3. One Day, I'll Be Laughing At Your Ashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara settles into her new life as a hostage and meets everyone's favorite tea uncle. Zuko and Commander Zhao have a fiery confrontation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This directly follows the previous chapter. Some of the later posts might have a random chronology. This story will draw some inspiration from Achilles and Briseis from the movie "Troy", the Netflix series "Troy: Fall of a City" and their source material, "The Illiad."

A guard knocked on the door about twenty minutes later. With a slight bow of the head, he presented Katara with a tray of food.

Katara smiled at him. "Thank you," she said, taking the tray from him.

He bowed again, backed away, then locked the door.

The tray contained a plate of steamed buns, a bowl of dumplings in broth, and a water pitcher. Katara started with the water, chugging down half the pitcher in one gulp. Some of her strength and vitality returned. She felt strong enough to try to hold down some food. Breaking one of the steamed buns in half, she put it in her mouth- it tasted sweet and doughy. Next, she tried one of the dumplings. It was stuffed with pork, shrimp, and water chestnuts. Katara quickly gobbled up all the dumplings and then slurped down the spicy broth. She couldn't remember eating anything more delicious, not even Gran-Gran's stewed sea prunes. 

Lulled into a blissful stupor, Katara had started to nod off when a different guard arrived with hot water for washing. He placed the pitcher and basin on the table where Zuko had cleaned up earlier. There was also a change of clothes left for her on the bed. The only thing they could find to fit her was a cabin boy's uniform consisting of a plain and utilitarian tunic and leggings. Very well, Katara was a prisoner on a warship, not some Ba Sing Se debutante. 

Katara rose from the bed and poured steaming water into the washbasin. Feeling stronger after rest and proper nourishment, she decided to try out her bending. She stood on the wooden floor, stripped of her parka, robe, leggings, and bindings, and summoned the water forth.

The steamy liquid made her skin tingle with pleasure. Just enough water soaked her body for her to be able to work up a lather with the soap the guard had been kind enough to leave for her. Its floral scent was lighter and more feminine than the sandalwood soap that Zuko used. She couldn't quite identify which flower this soap was supposed to smell it like, perhaps roses or lilies, but she liked it nonetheless. 

Katara summoned more water to rinse off the suds. Using one of the washcloths would have taken less effort, but water-bending was a secret act of rebellion even when used for such a mundane task. If ever Katara pictured herself in a similar mess to the one she was in, she'd say that she would fight her way out and make a daring escape or die trying. But reality proved to be a disappointment. In her weakened physical state, attempting such a stunt might be considered suicide, and even at the best of times, her bending was erratic and untrained. She knew that if they caught her trying to escape, which they probably would, they'd torture and kill her, then destroy everything she cared about. 

After Katara finished cleaning her body, she decided to do something with her hair. She untangled her braid and reached for the comb on the wash table. Whoever sent up these toiletries had snuck in a small vial of jasmine oil for her to work into her unruly, matted tresses and make them more manageable. Perhaps it had been the same person who'd chosen the floral soap? Who on the ship would care if she smelt like a flower garden or not? Why would they care? The vain part of Katara was glad they did care. If she was going to be a prisoner, at least she wouldn't smell like one. 

The guard who'd brought the food earlier interrupted Katara as she dried herself off. "My Lady," he said. 

Katara shrieked and held a towel to her chest.  _ If he opens that door, he's a dead man... and why in the name of Tui and La is he calling me "My Lady?"  _

"What?" she replied. 

"General Iroh invites you to have tea with him in his study." 

There were plenty of other things Katara would rather do instead of having tea with some old Fire Nation general, eating yellow snow, and sticking a fish hook in her eye among them, but she probably had little choice in the matter. 

"Very well," she groaned. "I'll be ready in about ten minutes." 

Katara quickly bent the excess water out of her damp hair until it was there, then twisted it into a simple braid. The tunic they'd given her to was a bit tight at the bust, and the matching leggings were snug around the hips, but they would have to do. Fed, washed up, and wearing clean clothes, Katara felt almost human again. 

She knocked on the cabin door to signal the guard. "Alright, I'm ready." 

General Iroh's study was a short walk down the hall. Floor to ceiling shelves cluttered with books and curiosities covered most of the walls. The cabin's leftover parts were taken up by tapestries depicting the Fire Nation insignia and a large porthole that let in the setting sun's light. A warm fire crackled in a hearth in the far corner. 

At the low table in the center of the room sat a tubby old man with thinning grey hair and sideburns and a wispy grey beard. He rose from the plush cushion he was sitting on and bowed to Katara. Then he smiled at her as if she were a favorite granddaughter. 

"Good evening, my dear," he said. "You're just in time for tea." 

He gestured for her to take a seat on one of the cushions around the table. Katara took the one across from him. "Thank you for having me, General." 

The table was set for tea. Delicate, black porcelain cups circled a large, squat teapot. Next to the teapot was a plate of little white cakes that resembled delicate flowers or snowflakes. 

General Iroh nodded in the direction of the cakes. "Please take one." 

These treats looked too tempting for Katara to resist. She picked up one and took a bite. Rice flour paste and milk custard melted in her mouth. Absolutely sinful. 

"I believe you've met Prince Zuko." The General poured tea into Katara's cup. "What did you think of my nephew?" 

What did she think of the Prince of the nation that had terrorized her people and killed her mother? Of the man who'd done nothing but hurt, insult, and intimidate her? The answer: not much. 

"I have burns on my arms that should give you an idea of what I think of him." Katara rolled her eyes and accepted the tea. 

"My nephew is a complicated young man." 

"Complicated isn't precisely the word I'd use." 

The words that did come to mind were too impolite to say over tea and cakes, but complicated worked fine. Katara wracked her brain to try to make sense of the scarred Prince, who now held her life in his hands and found nothing. 

She took a sip of tea, unsure of what else to do. The tea was sweet and refreshing, like taking a bite from a piece of fresh fruit. 

"Are you enjoying your tea?" General Iroh said. 

"I am," Katara replied. "Thank you." 

"I'm partial to headier brews, but I wasn't sure what your limits are. So, I decided to go easy on you." A pleasant smile crossed his broad, wrinkled face. His eyes narrowed to crescent-shaped slits. With their diadems of crow's feet, they looked like the rising sun. Gran-Gran smiled like this. 

Katara couldn't help but give him a weak smile in return. "I don't have much experience with tea," she said. "It's a rare treat here in the South Pole and we only ever get the stuff that tastes like hot leaf water." 

"Then we'll have to remedy that situation." 

"You want to turn me into a tea connoisseur? I can think of worse ways to occupy my time." 

The General's eyes singled in on the phoenix pendant hanging around Katara's neck. 

"Did Prince Zuko give you that?" 

Katara blushed and lowered her eyes. "He said that the crew would know what it meant, and they wouldn't harm me." Her fingers rubbed the jade pendant. " I know that phoenixes are a common symbol in the Fire Nation because of the whole rebirth through fire thing, but I don't know what other significance there is." 

"Phoenixes have an ancient association with the Fire Lord and his household," General Iroh said, stirring his tea with a spoon. "They're often paired with another royal creature, the dragon, to symbolize harmony and balance, particularly between male and female." 

"We have something similar in the Water Tribe: Tui and La, the spirits of the moon and the ocean. Their push and pull create the tidal and lunar cycles and keep the world in balance." 

"Then I guess our cultures aren't as different as we like to think." He plopped another cake onto her plate. 

"Uncle, is the tea still warm?" Prince Zuko entered the General's study. He furrowed his brow when he noticed Katara sitting with his uncle. "You look presentable," he said to her. 

"For a peasant?" Katara replied, raising an eyebrow. 

"I thought you'd still be in my cabin." 

He had said he'd back later to discuss the terms of Katara's "stay" aboard the ship. Katara hadn't been anxiously awaiting that particular appointment. 

"I invited her to have tea with us," General Iroh said. He poured his nephew a cup of tea. "I hope you don't mind. It'll do her good not to be locked up in that cabin the entire time she's here." 

"Very well. Here's as right a place as any to talk things over." Prince Zuko sat down on a cushion between Katara and his uncle. 

Katara rolled her eyes and pouted. " And by talking things over, you meaning telling me what my fate's going to be, without my input at all." 

"Exactly. You catch on quickly." 

"I know the terms of my imprisonment." Katara took a bite of a cake. "I'll stay here as your hostage and take you on your word that you won't attack my village." 

"These terms are more than generous and you're in no position to negotiate, peasant." 

"Oh, am I?" 

He rolled his eyes and switched over to a moral official-sounding tone. "You'll be well treated, provided those savages you call your people don't offer any resistance, and if you behave like anything other than a good little girl, both you and your village will suffer for it." 

Katara stared down at the half-eaten cake on the plate in front of her.  _ I see how things are. There's a knife at my throat and a canon aimed at my home. If either of us makes a wrong move, we'll both be destroyed.  _

"I know," she said. 

"Good. Then we're both on the same page." Prince Zuko smirked and nodded his head. "While you're here, you'll have the privilege of staying in my cabin and taking your meals with General Iroh and me. You'll be able to go wherever you'd like on board the ship, but you have to be accompanied by an escort. When I receive ambassadors, specifically those from the Southern Water Tribe, you'll be at my side as a show of goodwill." 

Ambassadors from the Southern Water Tribe? Sokka would probably be among them. At least she had a chance of seeing him again. 

Katara lowered her head. "Very well, I accept your terms." 

Sokka wouldn't understand this decision. Katara didn't understand it herself. What she did understand was that if she went along with her captor's demands, everything that mattered to her might still go up flames, but the odds were even worse if she didn't cooperate. 

"Prince Zuko," a booming voice called from outside the cabin. "General Iroh." 

Prince Zuko scowled. "You think he would have left already." 

Commander Zhao strode into these quarters as if they were his own. General Iroh rose and greeted him with a bow. "Commander," he said. "To what do we owe this honor?" 

The Commander brushed past the old man. His hawk-like eyes singled in on Katara as if she were a tasty mouse-bird. She desperately wanted to run and hide, but her body stayed frozen to her cushion. "Ah, the little Arctic wolf," he said. "I was curious about what became of you." 

"She's no concern of yours," Prince Zuko spat out with barely concealed venom. 

Katara's heart pounded, and she could scarcely breathe as Commander Zhao stalk her like prey. His eyes flickered like an ember when he noticed the phoenix pendant. 

"Now I see," he caught the pendant between his fingers. "The Prince has claimed you as his spoils of war." 

Katara pushed his hand off of her chest. His touch had elicited an unexpected surge of defiance. "I don't know what you mean," she hissed. 

"She doesn't know what I mean?" Commander Zhao looked over at Prince Zuko, who looked ready to barbeque him. "I don't think she'll be so innocent for long." He ran a finger across Katara's cheek. She felt his breath tickle the wisps of hair near her ear. "Maybe he'll let me have a taste when he's done." 

Prince Zuko shot up, ready to attack. Flames flickered at the tips of his fingers. The petrifying effect Commander Zhao's gaze had on Katara wore off. She jumped in between the two men. 

"Stop," she said. "I don't want anyone incinerated because of me. Don't you think I've caused enough trouble today?" 

With a snarl, the Prince extinguished his flames. He then took out his anger by smashing one of his uncle's delicate porcelain teacups. 

"Prince Zuko," Commander Zhao laughed. "Silenced by a Water Tribe peasant." 

Prince Zuko threw a ball of fire at the wall above the Commander's head as a warning. "One day, I'll be laughing at your ashes." 

The smirk fell from the Commander's face. 

General Iroh put a hand on Commander Zhao's shoulder. "I'll show you out, Commander." 

The two men exited the cabin. 

"Zhao has no honor," Prince Zuko said. He then turned to Katara. "You were right. You have caused enough trouble today." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine the reason behind Zuko's outburst is that he's taken Katara under his protection (however reluctantly) and thus feels responsible for her, so he's not going to let a creep like Zhao touch her. Also by insulting/threatening Katara, Zhao has insulted/threatened Zuko, and we all know how Zuko is with his honor.


	4. It Isn't Wise to Come Between a Polar Bear-Dog and Her Cub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Political and sexual tensions escalate ft. fairy godfather Iroh
> 
> Songs to play during this chapter:  
> Running with the Wolves by Aurora  
> Let It Go from Frozen  
> Belle from Beauty and the Beast  
> Like Real People Do by Hozier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a brief summary of how diplomatic relations between the Fire Nation and Southern Water Tribe have been going:  
> Zuko- I have your sister, why aren't you cooperating?  
> Sokka- because f*** you, that's why.
> 
> I imagine their correspondence being very Hamilton/Burr esque.

Katara looked forward to taking her meals with Iroh and Zuko, if only because she heard the news about the outside world. The two men would discuss new developments in the conflict between the Fire Nation and the Southern Water Tribe while she kept quiet and listened in.  
Apparently, Sokka, who'd been acting as the chief in their father's place, was being quite the thorn in Zuko's side. He refused to agree to any of the terms of surrender Zuko put forward, saying that he couldn't agree to anything unless he discussed it with the other tribal leaders. Of course, this was a ploy to buy some time while he warned the rest of the South Pole and tried to contact Dad and the rest of the fleet. Sokka, being Sokka, couldn't resist throwing some thinly-veiled jabs in the letters he exchanged with Zuko:  
" _A Water Tribe chief is merely one among equals. He doesn't consider his choices more important than anyone else's."_  
He even had the gall to add a few outright provocations:  
" _If this is inconvenient to you, you're more than welcome to leave."_  
Needless to say, Zuko didn't take this well. Katara sometimes found Zuko out on the deck, letting off steam by cursing Sokka's insolence and shooting flames at nothing in particular.

Katara sometimes forgot that Zuko and Sokka were around the same age; Zuko seemed more careworn and world-weary. To think the fate of the South Pole was in the hands of two hot-headed teenaged boys. It would be funny if the consequences weren't potentially disastrous. 

She was grateful that Zuko didn't take his frustrations out on her. Mostly, Zuko tried to avoid her, which he did surprisingly well, considering they were supposed to be sharing a cabin. Zuko didn't sleep well, as a rule, so he got his few hours of shut-eye a night on a pallet on the floor of his study. Not that Katara minded having a large and comfortable bed to herself.  
When they did come together at mealtimes, he only exchanged a few begrudged pleasantries with her. Not that Katara wanted Zuko's company, but was she so ugly, annoying, and barbaric that he could only give her the barest minimum of civility?  
Surprisingly, Katara found she like Iroh, who seemed like one of those people who can charm the moon out of the sky. Taking tea with him and admiring his collection of souvenirs and curiosities were the best parts of the day. He rambled on, the way old men tend to do. Still, Katara enjoyed his stories about all the places he'd seen: the great Earth Kingdom cities of Ba Sing Se and Omashu, Kyoshi Island, which was defended by an elite group of warriors who were all young women, and even the North Pole.  
Iroh offered to lend her some things to help her pass the time while she was on board the ship.   
"Do you play an instrument?" he asked.  
Katara shook her head. _No_  
"Sketch or paint?"  
 _No_  
"Do calligraphy?"  
Again, _no_?  
She lowered her eyes and smiled. "I'm afraid such lady-like accomplishments are missing from your typical Water Tribe girl's education."  
The skill-set Water Tribe women acquired over their lives was mostly limited to the practical and domestic: sewing, food-gathering, healing, things like that. She and Gran-Gran were the only two women in their village who could read and write, though literacy was rare among both sexes. Sokka and they made up the current extent of the village's literate population.   
Katara wanted most to practice her bending and maybe receive some instruction from a master, but this would be impossible.   
Even if they didn't kill her for being a water-bender, they certainly wouldn't let her train. They might as well given extra poison to a venomous snake. So Katara asked if she could borrow from Iroh's library and, if possible, have cloth, needles, and thread to make herself something else to wear besides the cabin boy's uniform.   
  
Like some sort of fairy godfather, Iroh exceeded her expectations. Each of the treasures he had sent to the cabin came with a little note explaining them.   
The first was a mother of pearl sewing kit, which he'd bought as a gift for his wife, but she died before he could give it to her. 

_"It wasn't doing anyone any good growing dusty on a shelf,"_ the note read. 

Three bolts of fabric came with the sewing kit: gossamer-like white Omashu linen, airy red taffeta woven on Kyoshi Island, and heavy, sky blue silk from Ba Sing Se. 

Ever the charmer, Iroh added, _"the blue will look lovely with your eyes."_

Just when Katara thought the magic was over, she found a package of sewing patterns at the bottom of the pile. 

_"I'm sorry that these fashions are many years out of date."_

She'd never sewn using patterns before, but she appreciated the gesture enough to try them out.

Some of them didn't look too hard to follow. 

Katara ran straight to Iroh's study to thank him in person. They'd come to trust her enough to let her leave the cabin without an escort. 

"Can you believe this!" Zuko's voice was audible from the other side of the door. " _Let me give you some advice: it isn't wise to come between a mother polar bear-dog and her cub..._ Is Chief Sokka crazy or just an idiot?" 

A mother polar bear-dog was a common symbol for the Southern Water Tribe as a whole: loving and nurturing towards her cubs but fierce and brutal when those cubs are threatened. 

A fire crackled, and the smell of burning paper curled out through an opening in the door. 

"Chief Sokka is trying to a rise out of you," Iroh said. "Because that's the only tile he has to play. Don't give him the satisfaction of victory." 

"This is bad enough, but now Father is sending Azula. Apparently, he doesn't trust me to handle this situation on my own." 

Katara turned back. It would be better to return later. Her presence would do nothing to help the situation and might do a lot to make it worse. 

She'd barely turned the corner when Zuko stomped out of the study. His expression when he noticed her was gloomy as usual but less harsh, soft almost. Sokka might look at her this way when she insisted on going out alone to gather fuel for the fire.

Katara gave Zuko a slight bow of her head and then left him. 

The full moon made Katara more restless than usual. She longed to be outside, using her bending, the way someone traveling through a desert might crave something to drink. Gran-Gran told her legends about how water benders had a special connection to the moon, and their bending was strongest when the moon was full.   
This restlessness kept her from sleeping. Silvery moonlight, magnified by a thick blanket of freshly fallen snow on the deck, made sleep impossible. The snowstorm they'd had today, hardly anything unusual in the South Pole, kept everyone cooped up inside, which hadn't helped Katara's unease. She tossed and turned in her bed for what seemed like a lifetime before she gave up, lit the oil lamp on the bedside table, and read one of the scrolls she'd borrowed from Iroh. 

Iroh recommended a story called _Love Amongst the Dragons,_ which he said was a favorite of his late sister-in-law, Fire Lady Ursa. It was an epic tale about the Dragon Emperor, who is cursed by the evil Dark Water Spirit to take the form of a mortal called Noren. As Noren, the Dragon Emperor falls in love with a mortal maiden, which breaks the curse. He defeats the Dark Water Spirit and makes his human lover the Dragon Empress.

Katara was at chapter three of the book, the part where the mortal maiden suspected Noren's true identity when her restlessness got the better of her. That La forsaken glare outside her window would drive her insane. It beckoned her to frolic in the snow like a penguin-seal pup. And howl at the moon like a wolf.   
She put on her thick boots and warm parka and snuck out onto the deck. Everyone else on board was asleep, so she could do so without being caught. She wasn't causing that much trouble, just playing in the snow for a while. By the time anyone would be awake, she'd be back in her bed as if she'd never left. She'd be doing the crew a favor, actually, by clearing off the deck. 

In dramatic swirls and powerful waves, Katara sent the powder flying into the sea below. Her chi serged throughout her body like a river that had been long dammed up. It took all her will-power not to squeal with delight and wake the entire ship. 

"What are you doing up here?" The raspy voice's owner shot two flames in Katara's direction. Katara blocked her face with her arms in a vain attempt to protect herself. The sleeves of her parka caught on fire. 

The flames licked her arms like the tongues of a demon. Her attacker said something, but she was too stunned by the pain to catch it. All she could do was scream.   
He ran over and grabbed Katara by her waist. His fingers untied the laces, which fastened her parka at her throat. The biting cold nipped at her when he pulled the parka down over her shoulders. When the garment fell to Katara's feet, he stomped out the flames. 

The starry sky above became a blur. Below Katara's feet, the ship rocked.   
"Katara...Katara..." 

"Katara..."   
Her eyes flickered opened. She lay on the bed in her cabin, her head propped up by pillows. Zuko was sitting next to her. He held a cup of water to her lips.   
"Drink this," he said.   
Katara downed the entire cup in one sip. To regain her bearings, she stared at the foot of the bed. Her parka was draped over a chair.   
"The sleeves should be easy to replace." Zuko took the cup from her when she finished. "The rest was hardly touched. Did you do the beadwork on the front? It's exquisite. I've heard the Water Tribe was famous for its beadwork." 

Katara didn't reply but continued staring straight in front of her at the parka. She had done the beadwork around the bib, but Gran-Gran helped with most of it. Gran-Gran was the one who'd taught her. Beadwork was an essential skill for a Water Tribe girl to learn. The crowning achievement of her education would be decorating the parka she would wear on her wedding day. 

Zuko reached over towards a washbasin on the bedside table. "So you're a bender?" he said, dipping a rag into the basin. "Why did you hide it?"   
"Because you would've killed me if I hadn't," Katara replied. 

"Fair enough."   
He moved in closer, holding the damp rag, and tried to get at her arm. His hands were large, rough, and warm. Katara knew how hot those hands could be. They were the reason she had those burns in the first place. Her heart went wild, and she pushed him away.   
"No! No!"   
Zuko leaned in again. "Stay still, I'm just trying to clean the burns." 

"Stop! Don't touch me!"   
Fed up, he threw the rag at her; it was cold and smelt like tea. She tossed the rag back at him, and it hit him in the face, on his scar. He dropped the rag in the basin and scowled.   
"Fine. Do it yourself then."   
Katara brought the washbasin over and cradled it in her lap. She rolled up the sleeves of her tunic. The earlier burns she'd received during her first meeting with Zuko were all but healed, but her newer burns looked raw and red.   
"You're a terrible person," she said, dabbing her arm with the damp cloth. The tea steeped in the water had a soothing effect on her wounds. "You know that? You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war, and violence, and hatred is in your blood." 

Zuko furrowed his brow and scoffed. "You don't know what you're talking about."   
"I don't? How dare you!" How could he say that? Especially after his people had killed her mother and attacked her village twice. Especially after he'd taken her prisoner and was holding her as a hostage. "You have no idea what this war has put me through, personally." She caressed her betrothal necklace, the one thing she had left of her mother. It's carved turquoise pendant hung above the jade phoenix that marked her out as Zuko's property. "The Fire Nation took my mother away from me." Warm, salty tears fell down her cheeks.   
"I'm sorry," Zuko said. He put a hand on her shoulder. "That's something we have in common."   
Katara blinked at him. That was just about the last thing she expected him to say. His brooding expression discouraged her from asking any further questions.   
"I thought you were a spoiled prince. I could have forgiven a spoiled prince." 

Katara undid the fastenings on her tunic. She had to take it off to rub salve on her burns, but these burns' rawness made moving her arms uncomfortable.   
Zuko grabbed the fabric of her sleeves. "Do you need help?" he said.  
She shot back with: " I can manage."   
She winced as she tried to pull the sleeves over her wounds. 

"No, you can't." By its sleeves, he pulled off the tunic, leaving her in a diamond-shaped linen bodice, tied around her neck and around her upper back, that covered and supported her breasts.   
Katara's cheeks flushed. She'd never been so exposed in front of a man before. He wouldn't get away with this. Bending some of the water out of the washbasin, she used it to slap Zuko in the face.   
He got up from the bed and scowled at her. "What was that for?"   
"You should have known better than to pick a fight with a water bender during a full moon." 

"Was that the best you got?" Zuko grabbed her by the wrists.   
Her heart pounded, and her breathing was labored. Was Zuko going to burn her again? 

As she struggled against him, he wrestled her onto the bed. Her head hit the pillows, and his hands ran up her legs. His lips brushed against her own. She shivered all over, and her cheeks blazed as if she was coming down with a fever.  
Katara couldn't tell what angered her: the fact that his rough, warm hands and chapped lips were on her or that she was enjoying it. That her first kiss had been stolen by this cruel Fire Nation Prince or that it felt exactly how it should.  
She slapped him. "Don't ever do that again!"   
"I'm sorry." Zuko got up from the bed. "I don't know what came over me."   
"Please... just... just get out."   
For the second time that night, she began to cry. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Katara moving snow was inspired by recent events. Here in Massachusetts, which might as well be the South Pole during the winter, we recently had our first major snowstorm of the year.


	5. Let The Old Bastard Die Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We hear Zuko's thoughts on everything that's happened so far and Zuko gets some news about his father. Zutara gets their library scene from Beauty and the Beast moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs for this chapter:  
> Something by the Beatles  
> The Arsonist's Lullaby by Hozier  
> River by Bishop Briggs  
> Something There from Beauty and the Beast

Zuko never could bear the sight of crying women. Something about it always made him crumble. Perhaps this was because of his mother, who was given plenty to lament about by his father? Zuko often heard her sobbing in her chambers after his parents had their terrifying rows. He would shudder under his bed and curse himself for not being able to protect his mother. Even Azula could get Zuko to do what she wanted with a few strategic crocodile tears.  
Of course, Katara looked breath-taking when she cried. At first, Zuko thought that he only found her beautiful because she was the first woman he'd come across in weeks. But she grew more exquisite with each day.

Katara didn't look like the pale, willowy court beauties of the Fire Nation Capital. Her skin had a coppery blush and a soft dusting of freckles, and she was small and sturdy, her body already starting to fill out its lush curves. That was how Zuko'd heard Water Tribe men liked their women. They preferred the ones who were hardy and robust and looked like they could bear many healthy children. 

_Something to hold on to at night,_ they said, _Something that'll keep you warm._

Every country had its beauty standards, and each man had his preferences, but a lovely woman was a lovely woman. 

No. Breath-taking wasn't the right way to describe Katara with tears spilling from her eyes. "Heart-breaking" and "haunting" were more appropriate. Zuko wanted to dry those stunning, blue eyes, but he'd been the one to make her cry in the first place. 

Katara had every right to be scared and upset by his actions that night. She was a young girl imprisoned on an enemy ship, and the kiss Zuko had stolen from her confirmed her worst fears. He could have held her down on the bed and taken what he wanted by force; Agni knew he was tempted, but she would hate him afterward, and he'd hate himself even more. Such an act was dishonorable.   
Zuko shouldn't care what a Water Tribe peasant thought about him, but for whatever reason, he did. He couldn't bear the idea that she might think of him as somewhat without honor.   
And the gossip about the two of them spreading around the ship probably didn't make things any better. The crew called Katara "the prince's girl" behind her back.   
"The prince is a selfish hypocrite," they'd say. "Keeping the best piece of tail for miles all to himself and telling us that we can't make sport of the local women while he has the little water savage to warm his bed." Katara did warm Zuko's bed; only Zuko wasn't in it.   
They'd look at the phoenix pendant hanging around Katara's neck and speculate whether or not Zuko would bring her back with him to the Fire Nation and officially install her as a royal consort.   
Fire Lords and Crown Princes typically had an official wife, but it wasn't unheard of for them to also take royal consorts. While the Fire Lady and the Crown Princess had to be of pure Fire Nation lineage, royal consorts were typically foreign princesses and noblewomen taken as the spoils of war or given away as part of a treaty. Royal consort was a position of privilege and honor. Though not as strong as an official wife's children, their children had a claim to the throne. 

The phoenix was the symbol of a royal consort. Zuko gave Katara the pendant without thinking much about it. Wearing it would keep her safe while she was in his custody, but he hadn't thought much beyond that time frame. If someone asked him what he would do with her initially, he'd say he would give her back to her family once the Southern Water Tribe surrendered. Now, he didn't know what to do. 

Zuko could always demand to get Katara as part of the Water Tribe's terms of surrender, to Hell with the Avatar. If he were dealing with any other enemy, perhaps the docile ruler of some Earth Kingdom city-state, they might accept this demand. But Chief Sokka would rather see his sister dead than carried off by the same people who'd killed their mother, and judging by Katara's behavior last night, she agreed with the sentiment. Zuko had read plenty of weepy ballads about maidens who chose to take their own lives rather than become enemy war-brides.   
His father wouldn't have bothered with the nicety of asking nicely to be allowed to keep Katara. He would have taken her and burnt Chief Sokka to ash if he made a scene about it. Father would be disappointed in him for hesitating. Zuko didn't know what was worse: doing something his father would disapprove of or doing something he would approve of.   
Zuko sighed. Agni, this girl was either going to make him weak or a monster. 

"Good morning, Prince Zuko," Uncle said when Zuko encountered him in the hallway outside of their cabins. He greeted his nephew with a warm smile. 

Zuko crossed his arms. "Morning already?" he replied. He'd gotten no sleep last night, and the hours had felt like days. 

"It's about nine o'clock." 

"After the night I had last night, I would have thought it was nine years from now." 

Uncle put a hand on his shoulder. "Something troubling you, nephew?" 

_Where do you want me to begin?_ "Let's take a walk on the deck. I need some fresh air." 

The morning was bright and brisk. Crew members shoveled the snow that Katara had missed from the deck. Zuko leaned on the railing and looked out across the vast expanse of blue ocean, and white ice flows in front of him. 

"My Prince," Zuko turned around to find a messenger standing behind him. "Might I speak to you in private?"   
"Out here on the deck?" Uncle looked around at the sailors shoveling snow. "Should I run up and down and tell the sailors to cover their ears." 

Zuko grabbed the messenger's arm and pulled him into a secluded doorway. "What is it?"   
The messenger lowered his head. "Your father, Fire Lord Ozai, is gravely ill and requests that you return home."   
"Tell him his request is denied." 

_How dare he!_ Father had banished him and said he could only return to the Fire Nation if he captured the Avatar. Now he was asking him to abandon the mission and rush home as if nothing had happened. This had to be some kind of trick. 

"But My Prince, I was told to bring you back with great urgency."  
"Then I suggest you give him my refusal with great urgency." Zuko walked away.   
Uncle was standing behind one of the walls the enclosed the doorway.   
"How much did you hear?" Zuko said.   
Uncle shrugged his shoulders. "All of it it." 

"I know what you're going to say," Zuko rolled his eyes. "If my father's ill enough to send for me, I should go and see him."   
"No. Let the old bastard die alone. That's not what I want to talk to you about."   
"What is it then?"   
"What was troubling you last night?"   
Zuko lowered his eyes. He thought the world of Uncle but Uncle was incapable of minding his own business. "It's Katara."   
  


"Oh, I see," Uncle winked. "Trouble in paradise?"   
"No...that's not it... I kissed her last night, and she got scared. She's afraid of me, and I don't want her to be afraid of me." 

Uncle clapped him on the back. "You'll have to do a lot of work to gain her trust."   
"What kind of work?" Zuko furrowed his brow.   
"When it comes to women, the bigger the gesture, the better." 

When the rest of the ship had gone to bed that night, Zuko led Katara up to the training dojo. He removed the scarf from her eyes, and her face looked radiant in the oil lamps.   
She looked around at the gleaming wooden floor and glass walls. "What are we going here?" she said.   
"My uncle has some water-bending scrolls in his library," Zuko replied. He pointed to a low table where the scrolls sat. "I thought you could use them for training."   
"Why would your uncle have water bending scrolls?"   
"He believes its import for a bender to learn from different styles of bending because seemingly opposing elements like fire and water aren't as incompatible as they seem. They're simply two sides of the same coin."   
"Your uncle sounds like a wise man."   
Strange how Zuko never knew how useful Uncle's advice was until he found himself saying the same things to someone else.   
Katara unrolled one of the scrolls. She adopted the first set of stances: feet apart, moving the arms in a pushing motion, swinging the left leg forward.   
"Your arms are too stiff." Zuko leaned in to help relax her arms. "May I?"   
She lowered her eyes and considered for a moment. "Yes." He put his hands on her arms, and she tensed up,   
"You can relax. I'm not going to burn you or try to kiss you again."   
"You better not." She let her arms droop a little. The flow of chi through her body was strong. With enough training, she'd be a formidable bender.   
"That's perfect."   
Zuko stepped away to allow her to complete the set of stances. Katara pushed forward with her arms and swung her left leg around, creating a small wave. "I did it," she squealed. 

"Don't get too cocky yet. That's only the basic technic."   
"Killjoy." She glanced at the next set. "Does your uncle know I'm using his scrolls?"   
Zuko rubbed his neck. "I kind of...took them without asking. I don't think he'd mind you using them, but I didn't want to tell him that you're a bender. He wouldn't have a problem with you being a bender; it's just that he's a terrible gossip. If he knew, then the entire ship would know within the hour."   
He respected her wishes to keep her bending a secret.  
Katara put down the scroll and sized Zuko up. "Why are you helping me?"   
"Because I don't want you losing control of your bending and flooding the ship," Zuko smirked.   
"Don't give me ideas."   
"Come on. Let's try the next set of stances." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided I'd share some of my influences. Arctic Flower takes a lot of inspiration from the movies Troy and The King. Both are on Netflix and I'd recommend both of them.  
> Here's a guide to which characters are supposed to be which:
> 
> Zuko: Achilles/ Prince Hal  
> Katara: Briseis/ Katherine of France  
> Zhao: Agamemnon/ the Dauphin  
> Iroh: Falstaff/ Odysseus  
> Sokka: Hector/Paris/ Hotspur  
> Gran-Gran: King Priam (with shades of Olenna Tyrell from Game of Thrones)  
> Ozai: King Henry  
> Azula: Prince Thomas/ the Dauphin  
> Mai: Patrocles


	6. Nuktuk and the Giants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka clashes with the Fire Nation and instigates a diplomatic incident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tale of Nuktuk is based on the Inuit folktale "Kugaluk and the Giants" from Northern Quebec and the hero's name is of course taken from a certain mover starring our favorite himbo, Bolin. I also took some Norse inspiration when thinking up Water Tribe marriage customs, in that fathers can technically marry off their daughters by force, but its frowned upon and proverb Sokka quotes "It's easier to look after one hundred reindeer-moose than one girl" is based on an old Icelandic one.
> 
> Songs for this chapter:  
> Won't Back Down by Tom Petty  
> Frozen Heart from Frozen  
> Daniel in the Lion's Den by Bastille.  
> Hey Brother by Avicii

Gran-Gran once told Sokka and Katara a story about a hunter called Nuktuk. While stalking elk-moose, Nuktuk is captured by two giants, a male, and a female, who bring him back to their igloo. Nuktuk slit the giant's throat while the brute was sleeping and escaped across the tundra. The giantess chases after Nuktuk to avenge her slain mate but Nuktuk escapes by crossing a frozen river. He cracks the ice to prevent the giantess from gaining on him.  
"O, how will I cross?" the giantess cries, to which Kugaluk replies: "Drink the river dry." The giantess gulps down the river's saltwater until she explodes, covering the tundra in smoke.  
According to Gran-Gran, this is why it's often foggy out on the South Pole's tundras.

"Fire Nation!" one of Sokka's fellow fishermen shouted when one of the Fire Nation's floating giant death machines appeared out of the fog.   
Was this the ship where they were keeping Katara? Sokka couldn't bring himself to look at it in case it was.   
"If dad were here," he cursed, gripping the handle of his boomerang. "He'd make them pay."   
Sokka and Gran-Gran had tried to get in touch with Dad and the rest of the fleet. But their search came to nothing. They'd heard from Gran-Gran's old flame Grand Master Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe, who lived at the other end of the world, but nothing from Dad, who last they'd checked was somewhere in Earth Kingdom territory, a significantly shorter distance away. 

Dad must be somewhere, and when they found him, he'd come back and make the Fire Nation sorry they were ever born. 

Old Tarkik, who acted as the helmsman of their narrow wood and penguin-seal skin fishing boat, shook his hoary head at the much larger Fire Nation ship. He removed the beluga-walrus ivory pipe from between his thin, wrinkled lips. "Chief Hakoda wouldn't stand for this," he said, blowing a cloud of smoke. "Especially what they're doing to his little girl."   
"Katara deserves better than to have to be with that evil prince," added Yuka, a delicate-looking boy, scarcely old enough to be on the fishing trip, who was mending a net with a darning needle.   
Amaruq, a burly young man the same age as Sokka, who already had an impressive beard, shook his spear and chuckled. "Katara's one sweet little snowdrop. That royal pansy doesn't deserve to have her in his bed." 

Rumors about Katara's fate had reached all the villages in the area. Apparently, Prince Zuko was infatuated with Katara and made her a royal consort, a fancy Fire Nation term for sex slave.   
"Watch it," Sokka snarled. He knocked the spear out of Amaruq's hand. "That's my little sister you're talking about."   
"Too bad she didn't get the chance to find a real man." Some of the younger members of the fishing party laughed and nodded in agreement. Sokka scowled. O the curse of having a beautiful sister. 

As much as Sokka grumbled about how stubborn and willful Katara was, how she always tried to boss him around and act like their mother, even though she was younger, he missed her something awful. 

Katara would have left home someday to join her husband's village. Gran-Gran spoke about how Katara was approaching marriageable age, and when Dad returned with the fleet, he'd probably arrange a betrothal for her. Like a good father, he would have let her have the final say in who she married. Southern Water Tribe girls _could_ be married off against their will, but it was frowned upon. Sokka often joked that he couldn't wait for someone, anyone, to come to take her off their hands. Now he had to eat those words. 

When a husband did come to take Katara, he should have been a brave and honorable warrior who treated her with the love and respect she deserved. Definitely not some asshole Fire Nation prince who'd steal her innocence then pass her around among his crew like a peace pipe. 

_"Look after your sister, Sokka,"_ Dad had said before he left for war. 

Sokka hugged him, tears running down his cheeks. _"I will. I promise."_

Katara's misfortune meant that Sokka had failed in his promise to protect her. She never made it easy for him to keep this promise. As an old Water Tribe proverb said: It's easier to look after one hundred reindeer-moose than one girl. But Katara was still his responsibility, and he couldn't fail her again. 

Old Tarkik got it right. Dad wouldn't have stood for this, and Sokka sure as Hell wouldn't either. 

"Shit," Amaruq grumbled. The boat had drifted into a vast ice flow, and the bow was now stuck.   
Sokka readied his boomerang. "I got it," he said, using the boomerang to hack through the snow and ice.   
A few leagues away loomed the Fire Nation warship, its sharp, metal-enforced bow wedged into a thick sheet of ice. The ice sheet grew thinner towards the center, and the bow was strong enough to cut through it. The ship wasn't stuck but rather docked. 

A dozen dark, barely-distinguishable figures descended the gangplank. They came more into view, and Sokka could make out the red and black Fire Nation armor. 

Sokka continued to swing his boomerang and hack into the ice and snow surrounding his boat's bow. "Bastards," he growled. The ice sheet cracked around him, breaking into rectangular and diamond-shaped chunks. 

"Hey," the leader of the group of soldiers shouted at him. "What are you doing?" His men ran back towards the ship. 

Sokka tapped Old Tarkik on the shoulder. "Turn around."   
All but one of the Fire Nation soldiers made it to safety. The unfortunate young man swam, puffing and gasping, past the boat as they rowed back towards the village, his face purple and his lips blue. 

"Help," he panted, a thick cloud of smokey breath obscuring his face.   
"Where you going, buddy?" Sokka replied. "You're heading in the wrong direction. The Fire Nation's the other way."  
"What are we going to with him?" Yuka asked.   
Sokka grabbed an oar. "If we pull him out of the water, he'll probably freeze to death before we get back to the village. It's only a slightly horrible way to die than if we just left him here. The merciful thing to do would be to put him out of his misery." 

The oar hit the drowning man in the face and pushed him under the water. As he choked on his final breaths, a smokey fog covered the ice. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once I’m finished with “Arctic Flower” and “The Boy I Love is Up in the Gallery,” I’m going to write a regency era au (based on “Bridgerton” and “Sanditon” with shades of “War and Peace”) and I’m torn between a story where Zuko and Katara , as the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady, are rival Wild West bandits or a 1920s gangster au (sort of inspired by Peaky Blinders).


	7. Me and My Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara has a spa day with Team Azula and is susceptible to peer pressure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs for this chapter:  
> Me and My Girls by Selena Gomez  
> Boys, Boys, Boys by Lady Gaga  
> Beautiful from Heathers The Musical  
> Secret Tunnel from Avatar: The Last Airbender
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day

If Katara ever missed anything about her time in Fire Nation custody, it would be the feeling of silk sheets and garments against her skin and the onsen. Her village's bathhouse was a hut made from animal skins covering a circle of steaming rocks, not a cavernous chamber covered in gleaming wooden panels with a vast pool of steaming, bubbling water.  
Zuko's sister, Princess Azula, laughed at Katara's wide-eyed amazement. "This is nothing compared to the one at the royal palace," she said. "There, the walls and floors are marble, and the pool can fit a hundred people."  
Princess Azula was as perfectly beautiful as everyone said she was, but her deceptively girlish appearance didn't match her reputation. With her delicate, doll-like prettiness and sing-song voice, she seemed like she should be terrorizing an academy for young ladies instead of leading a conquering army.  
She'd arrived two weeks ago, accompanied by two other girls named Mai and Ty Lee. Katara wondered what she could possibly have in common with these privileged Fire Nation ladies, but, as much as she enjoyed sparing with Zuko and drinking tea and playing pai sho with General Iroh, she longed for the companionship of women her own age.   
Princess Azula invited Katara to join her and her friends in the onsen one afternoon a few days after arriving. Katara hadn't yet used the onsen. Because she'd been the only woman on board the ship, it wasn't proper for her to bathe among all men. Special "women-only" hours were designated when Princess Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee came on board. Like Water Tribe steam huts, Fire Nation onsens were hubs of socialization and gossip. As they luxuriated in the steamy water, the three girls chatted about secrets and scandals from the Fire Nation royal court: who'd poisoned their rival or had a secret abortion. Who took a servant or their husband's friend as a lover. Who was now over thirty and still trying to pass for a girl of sixteen. Katara had to bite her lip to keep from gasping at some of the things Fire Nation ladies got up to. And she thought the crude and bawdy jokes the married women of her village made about their husbands' virility, or lack thereof, while in the steam hut were shocking. 

Princess Azula took a sip of warm sake, the rice wine she'd helped Katara develop a taste for. "I've heard that Madame Ukano has a master fire bender come in twice a month," she said. "Just to singe off her body hair, even the hair...down there." The Princess pointed between her thighs.

Katara's jaw dropped slightly. "Sounds painful. Why would she want to do that?"

"Women are always willing to put up with a lot to please their men."

"Why would men be pleased if a woman doesn't have hair...down there?"

Because the North and South Poles are so cold and the people who live are fully covered up most of the time, body hair removal wasn't wildly practiced by the Water Tribes.

Princess Azula glanced at Mai and Ty Lee and laughed. "Isn't she sweet? She's just like a lost doe-gazelle." She took another sip of sake and turned back to Katara. "Singeing is a lot less painful than waxing. If you're interested, Katara, I can arrange for us all to try it out for ourselves?"

She looked Katara over, particularly the modest dusting of fur covering Katara's armpits, legs, and crotch.

Katara blushed. "I don't see why not."

When Princess Azula invited her to do something, it always carried a hint of "aren't I wonderful for allowing you to tag along." Still, Katara found herself in awe of the confident, worldly Princess and wanted her approval.

Princess Azula refilled her cup from a small porcelain sake pitcher kept warm in a bucket of steaming water. "I don't buy that Madame Ukano's little boy is _really_ her husband's. There's a fifteen-year age gap between her two children, that's a bit suspicious to me. What do you think Mai?"

Mai, a willowy, somewhat dour-looking governor's daughter from Omashu, just frowned and stared out the window. Madame Ukano was Mai's mother.

Outside the window, an expanse of ice flows and snowdrifts spread all the way out to the horizon. The frost on the windowpanes crackled in the onsen's heat.   
"How can the people who live here stand seeing nothing but white all the time?" Mai said.   
Princess Azula rolled her eyes. "Try liking something for once in your life, Mai. You might find you enjoy it."   
"I like this sake." Mai took a sip of said rice wine. 

Katara blinked. Was Mai's remark an attempt at being funny? 

Mai rarely spoke, except to make such comments, and tended to fade into the background, her porcelain mask of a face always wearing the same unreadable expression. Frankly, it was easy to forget she was there sometimes. 

Ty Lee tapped Katara on the shoulder. "Your brother will be at the summit tonight?" she said. Her long braid wagged like a puppy's tail. 

"Yes," Katara replied. _Why would she care if Sokka was going to be there or not?_

"What's he like? Is he handsome?" Ty Lee's big grey eyes pleaded for an answer. 

Mai raised an eyebrow. "Most people don't spend time thinking about whether their brothers are handsome or not," she scoffed. 

"I guess Sokka's handsome." Katara lowered her eyes. "He looks a lot like our father, who was known as quite the heartbreaker in his youth." 

Ty Lee squealed and squeezed Katara's upper arms. 

"Don't you have enough boyfriends already?" Mai said. 

Several of the young officers on board the ship were already pegged Ty Lee as potential wife material. With her cute, babyish face and supple, curvaceous figure, Ty Lee was definitely pretty, and she came from one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the Fire Nation. Ty Lee was also one of seven daughters, so she would likely give her husband many children, and the fact that she did a stint as a circus contortionist hinted that she'd be a freak in bed. No wonder she had so many suitors. 

"What's the matter, Mai?" Princess Azula said. A nasty smirk crossed her face. "You're not jealous, are you?" 

Mai frowned and turned away. "No. Of course not," she sighed.   
At first, the ship's young officers had glanced in Mai's direction. The Ukano clan had one of the snootiest pedigrees a Fire Nation family could have. They made the Tys, who had only joined the nobility within the past few generations, look positively new-money. Still, the officers quickly lost interest in Mai.   
" _She's not bad looking at all,_ " Katara heard one of them say. With her tall, slim figure, smoldering amber eyes, silky, black hair, and alabaster complexion, Mai fit the Fire Nation's standard of attractiveness. "But she seems like a cold husk."   
Mai had been perfectly cordial to Katara, helping her practice the tea ceremony's intricate rituals that Katara was supposed to perform at the summit, but a cruel part of Katara agreed with the officer's assessment of Mai. Azula put it best when she said, " _Mai thinks having an attitude is the same thing as having a personality._ " 

An icy wind roared and whistled outside the window, accompanying the musical fountains that trickled into the pool. There'd been a blizzard the night before. Zuko and Katara spent their evening sparing time clearing the decks. 

Katara used her bending to move the snow while Zuko melted the ice with his flames. Then the two of them used their respective bending to dry up the melted ice before it could freeze again. 

Zuko walked Katara to their room when they were finished. He held the door open for her. " _Good job tonight_ ," he said. " _You're a much stronger bender than the girl I caught frolicking around in the snow_." 

Katara blushed. He stood so close that their cheeks almost touched. His ember eyes bore into her. If his touch could burn her, that look made her melt. She lowered her head and stared at her feet to avoid his gaze. " _Thank you_ ," she replied. 

" _Sleep well._ " Zuko turned towards the door that leads from their room to his study. He bowed his head to her before closing the study door behind him.   
Katara's plopped down on the bed. Their sparing sessions always left her dizzy and breathless. All her life, Gran-Gran told her stories about Tui and La, the spirits of the moon and the sea whose push and pull keeps the world in balance. Tui and La were two halves of the same whole, and the irresistible forces of the universe drew them together.   
Katara and Zuko had been engaged in their own push and pull since they met. He'd step forward; she'd step back. She'd step forward; he'd step back. Each step brought them closer. Sparring with him, working beside him, simply being around him made Katara feel strong, capable, and most importantly, whole. Whatever forces drew Tui and La together also bound her and Zuko. 

The onsen's temperature was too infernal for Katara to stand staying in the water for too long, though Princess Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee didn't seem to mind. They continued soaking and chatting while Katara slid her body onto the wooden deck, her flesh as slippery and steamy as boiled fish. In the cooler air, her skin broke out into countless little penguin-goose pimples, and she shivered all over. She stretched out her body and let out a deep breath. _Ah, this feels delicious._

Mai crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you cold?" she said. 

"I'm a bit chilly but..." Katara replied. 

"Wrap yourself in a towel," Ty Lee piped in. "The rack is heated so the towels are warm when you take them." 

Katara brushed off Ty Lee's suggestion with a "sounds lovely" and continued to luxuriate in the glorious coolness. 

Princess Azula and Ty Lee snickered when Katara stretched her arms, unintentionally showing them the healed burn scars on her biceps. 

"What's so funny?" Katara said. 

Ty Lee tried to hide her giggling by covering her mouth with her hands. Her muffled voice replied, "Nothing." 

"Some fire benders like to mark their lovers by giving them little burns during their intimacy." Princess Azula smirked as if to say, _don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about._ "The way someone else might leave love bites on their lover's flesh. Coconut oil is great for _those_ types of burns, by the way." Princess Azula gave Katara a wink. 

"I know," Katara replied. She was given a coconut oil-based salve to treat her burns

, though she hadn't received them in the way they thought. 

Ty Lee nudged Princess Azula. "I think we all know which fire bender gave her those love burns," she whispered to the Princess. 

"So Zuzu has some fire in him after all." 

Katara could kick herself for being so naive that she didn't catch on sooner that people assumed that she and Zuko were lovers. She should have known when the crew chuckled and gave each other knowing glances whenever she passed by. Iroh eventually had to admit that the phoenix pendant she wore around her neck meant she was a royal consort and off-limits to anyone other than Zuko. 

" _My nephew wasn't lying when he said he gave you the pendant to keep you safe,"_ Iroh had said. _"You're a beautiful young lady and the only woman on a ship full of men. It isn't hard to see how such as situation is unsafe for you. But no one would dare harm the prince's consort. You're under his protection and it would be dishonorable to let anything happen to you."_

Tui and La take Zuko and his honor, but they were the only things keeping her alive and virtuous. 

Katara grabbed a towel from the heated rack and wrapped it around her shoulders. Its warmth enveloped her.   
A masseur, a young woman around the same age as the girls soaking in the onsen, approached Katara and bowed to her. "My Lady," she said. "Would you like your massage now?"   
"Yes, please," Katara replied. She had a massive knot in her back from clearing the decks with Zuko, so a massage sounded beautiful.   
"Come this way, please."   
After wrapping the towel around her body and knotting it under her breasts, Katara followed the masseur to a small bed a few steps away from the onsen. She lay down on her stomach across the bed.   
"Make sure you really get into the shoulders."   
Katara grabbed a towel from the heated rack and wrapped it around her shoulders. Its warmth enveloped her.   
A masseur, a young woman around the same age as the girls soaking in the onsen, approached Katara and bowed to her. "My Lady," she said. "Would you like your massage now?"   
"Yes, please," Katara replied. She had a massive knot in her back from clearing the decks with Zuko, so a massage sounded beautiful.   
"Come this way, please."   
After wrapping the towel around her body and knotting it under her breasts, Katara followed the masseur to a small bed a few steps away from the onsen. She lay down on her stomach across the bed.   
"Make sure you really get into the shoulders."   
The masseur rubbed warm oil into Katara's neck, shoulders, and back and worked wonders on her sore muscles. Katara let out a contented sigh.   
"Tell us, Katara," Katara turned her head to see Princess Azula standing beside her. "Does Zuzu have any fire in him?"   
"My Lady, keep your neck still," the masseur cut in.   
Katara straightened her neck so that she looked directly in front of her. "I don't know what you mean."   
"You don't do you?"   
Mai knotted a towel under her armpit. "Leave her alone, Azula." Her ember eyes blazed in a way Katara hadn't noticed before.   
"You are jealous." Princess Azula raised one of her perfectly arched eyebrows and smirked. 

"Put the knives down, Mai. It was only a bit of good-natured teasing between friends." _Good-natured teasing, indeed._ "Right Katara?" 

Katara just blinked. 

"I'll take that as a yes." 

As the masseur worked on Katara's back, neck, and shoulders, a manicurist buffed Mai's hands and feet with a pumice stone. A hairdresser washed Princess Azula's silky black tresses with a shampoo made from egg yolks and bicarbonate of soda, and an esthetician spread a lava scrub across Ty Lee's face. Of course, Princess Azula traveled with a full team of beauticians. Why wouldn't she? 

"Katara," Mai said. The manicurist was now filing Mai's talon-like fingernails to sharp points. "What's the first part of the tea ceremony?" 

Katara wracked her brain to recall what she'd learned during her tea serving lessons with Mai and Iroh. "Preparing the tea," Katara replied. "Put three scoops of matcha powder in the tea bowl, followed by a little hot water. Whisk into a paste before then pour in the rest of the hot water to make the tea." 

"No. Try again." 

"La! I'll never get this right." Katara always forgot that preparing the tea itself wasn't the first part of the ceremony. But what was the first part? 

"I know it's all really confusing, but you need to get it down perfectly. All eyes will be on you today and the last thing you want is to embarrass yourself." 

Princess Azula shook out her raven locks so the hairdresser could rinse them out with black tea. "You're too harsh, Mai. She's not Fire Nation, it's not going to come naturally to her." 

"All the more reason why she needs to get it right." Mai shrugged. 

Princess Azula was right. Katara hadn't grown up in the Fire Nation and hadn't had a lifetime to perfect the tea ceremony, the most necessary refinement for a Fire Nation woman to have. From the lowliest peasant's wife to the Fire Lady herself, the mistress of a household was expected to serve tea to her guests as a sign of hospitality. If Katara couldn't do the whole thing flawlessly, that would make her look like more of an ignorant savage than they already thought she was. 

"Scrub, scrub, scrub," Ty Lee sang as the esthetician cleaned the lava mask from her face with a concoction made from volcanic ash dissolved in coconut water. "Wash, wash, wash." 

_Wash, wash, wash._ That was it! 

Katara shrieked. "I remember it. Thanks, Ty Lee." 

"Uh... you're welcome." Ty Lee blinked at her. 

"Mai! The first step in the tea ceremony is to wash the utensils in front of the guests and arrange them on the table. This represents purity and harmony." 

Mai bowed her head and gave Katara a little smile. 

Katara rubbed coconut oil on her legs. Singeing the hair off had stung, and after scraping the burnt fuzz away, the skin was raw and pink.   
Her legs were the least painful part to singe; it had only stung a little. The armpits stung slightly more. They were so tender that she couldn't bear to touch them for a couple of minutes afterward. It burned when Katara rubbed coconut oil into her armpits.   
Mai and Ty Lee had to fortify Katara before she had her pubic hair singed off. The ordeal left her crying and washing between her legs with lavender water to get the soreness to go away. 

Princess Azula rolled her eyes. " _I didn't think she'd mind being burned a little_ ," she said. 

Why had Katara agreed to do this? Because she looked barbaric next to the hairless Fire Nation women. Her body was now as smooth and bald as an infant's, and she almost didn't recognize it. 

Linen and silk caressed Katara's raw skin. Her outfit for the summit that evening was a white linen kimono and a pair of baggy scarlet trousers tied around her waist. Iroh offered to lend her one of his late wife's formal robes to wear. Katara chose the apple green and cherry red one because it went with her scarlet trousers. 

Iroh's wife had been known for being a very tall woman; Katara could practically swim in her robe's heavy brocade. She must have made quite the picture standing next to Iroh, who was as short and stout as a teapot. 

Princess Azula's hairdresser came to see Katara after seeing the Princess first, of course, and arranged Katara's sable-colored curls in a Fire Nation top knot. Ty Lee accompanied the hairdresser and helped Katara with her makeup. 

"Be careful tonight," Ty Lee said when she finished. "You're definitely going to steal more than a little of Azula's thunder." She showed Katara her reflection in a hand mirror. 

Ty Lee had given Katara's face a subtle dusting of rice powder to even out the skin tone and added a few dabs of rouge to Katara's lips and cheeks. She emphasized the almond shape and blue color of Katara's eyes by lining them in kohl and painting the lids with azurite. Katara had always loved her freckles and her eyes, and these touches of makeup highlighted those features. 

Katara gasped. She looked beautiful. "Thank you, Ty Lee." 

"And I think Prince Zuko won't be able to take his eyes off of you." 

The hairdresser went to answer a knock at the door. 

"A gift from Prince Zuko," a messenger said. "To Lady Katara." He presented the hairdresser with a silk parcel. 

The silk parcel contained a gold hairpin shaped like a phoenix, which the hairdresser slid into Katara's top knot. Another phoenix. Katara couldn't go a few feet without coming across one of them. 

Phoenixes were symbols of grace and sacrifice, two things Katara had to embody that evening.

She took a deep breath and summoned all her courage. To keep her mind off her tottering nerves, she sang a song that Iroh had taught her. 

_ "Two lovers, forbidden from one another.  _

_ A war divides their people.  _

_ A mountain divides them apart.  _

_ Built a path to be together.  _

_ Secret tunnel, secret tunnel,  _

_ Through the mountains,  _

_ Secret tunnel, secret tunnel."  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep imagining Team Azula singing "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" from Grease behind Katara's back during this chapter. BTW The lack of Grease-themed Zutara content out there is shameful. It's practically gift-wrapped with a bow for us. And Ty Lee as Frenchie would be perfect.


End file.
